Better Case Management Software, Better Investigations

i-Sight software is relied upon by hundreds of leading national and multinational corporations and government agencies in all sectors to help them conduct better investigations. We understand your investigation challenges and we create powerful software to address them.

Need help deciding what to look for in a new investigative case management system?
You’ve come to the right place.

Improve the Way You Conduct Investigations

i-Sight’s case management solutions will streamline your investigations process and help you conduct better, more thorough investigations with bulletproof documentation and reports. We have implemented solutions for hundreds of clients and more than 30,000 users.

Your i-Sight solution is configured for your department, industry and role, ensuring you get a system that enhances, rather than replaces, your current processes. With an expert solution built specifically for your business, you’ll be more efficient, better protected and see excellent return on your investment.

Improve Your Business

Need help deciding what to look for in a new investigative case management system?
You’ve come to the right place.

Built by Specialists

i-Sight case management software is built by specialists who understand the investigative environment and ensure your solution meets the unique needs of your industry, department or role. We’ve implemented hundreds of systems just like yours, and we know how to incorporate best practices into your solution.

About i-Sight

i-Sight is a global leader in the provision of configurable case management software for investigations. With a single focus on investigative case management software solutions and a 16-year track record of successful implementations, i-Sight has established a solid reputation as a company at the forefront of the industry.

You’re proud of your investigation skills. You’ve conducted productive, unbiased interviews and uncovered, preserved and documented all the evidence. Now you need to present your findings to your boss, corporate counsel, maybe even the courts. Here’s where your investigation report comes in and this is why it has to be a winner.

“Investigation reports are likely to be used by a client or a company to make a decision, often on terminating an employee or presenting it for potential criminal charges,” says Derek Knights, CFE, CPP, CISSP, PCI, Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives, Global Security and Investigations at TD Bank. “If our reports don’t state the facts clearly and unambiguously and completely, and in a manner that’s easy for the client or boss to read, we could allow them some interpretation that could be wrong.”

Anatomy of a Bad Report

FREE Investigation Report Template

When it comes to decisions, a case may rely on a well-presented investigation report. Therefore reports must be useful and clear. According to Knights, a report does not serve this purpose if:

the reader can’t understand it

the reader stops halfway (or doesn’t even start) because reading it is too much of a chore

the report doesn’t say what the author meant

If any of these things happen, says Knights, your investigation has lost credibility. To avoid this, use plain language, short words and sentences, and skip the obscure terminology, acronyms and technical jargon.

Anatomy of a Good Report

A well-presented investigation report, says Knights, consists of four elements:

Issue: two to three paragraphs, stating what happened.

Findings: two to three paragraphs, outlining the end result of the investigation

Investigation: a clear and concise account of the supporting details

Resolution: outline of the final outcome, followed by appendices

All of these elements should be simply and clearly written so that there can be no alternate interpretation of the facts.

What Goes Where

“The first element is to clearly state what the situation is. Describe the [issue] in broad strokes, and the timeline and the details, so that the reader can form a mental picture of what’s going on,” says Knights.

“The next thing is to very clearly, in prose or bullet points, or a combination, point out who was responsible, how it was determined that they were responsible (at a very high level) and what steps have been taken. In other words, the boss sees what happened and what we’ve done about it in the first half page of the document.”

The next section, says Knights, contains the details, the chronological story, the synopses of interviews, descriptions of the type of evidence, etc.

A more detailed conclusion or resolution wraps things up at the end of the report. The appendices, at the end of the resolution section, may be a binder, or electronic equivalent, containing the invoices, statements and all the other documentation and evidence that support the report.

“The report itself, instead of being a 10-to-15-page complete travelogue of the investigation, is a very short and punchy and understandable account of what happened and what we did about it,” says Knights.

Say it Clearly and Correctly

“But the most important thing, in my opinion, is to use plain language, simple everyday words, short sentences and short paragraphs,” says Knights. “Make sure your grammar and punctuation are correct… Misplaced punctuation can radically change the meaning of a sentence. A comma in the wrong spot or a missing hyphen could lead your reader to the wrong conclusions, and that’s bad,” he says.

Dawn Lomer

Managing Editor

Dawn Lomer is the managing editor at i-Sight Software and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). She writes about topics related to workplace investigations, ethics and compliance, data security and e-discovery for the company blog and industry publications. Through her interviews with industry experts and attendance at conferences and seminars, Dawn has developed broad knowledge of the subjects she covers.